"I'm particularly happy about this program," Fleming said in a telephone interview from Germany, where she was preparing to debut her interpretation of Ariadne in Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos." "There's so much in it; it's so rich."

The San Antonio Symphony concert, the first in a short U.S. tour, also holds the premiere of a new orchestration for "Night Flight to San Francisco," Ricky Ian Gordon's piece based on a monologue at the end of Tony Kushner's epic play "Angels in America."

"It's a piece I first sang with a piano a long time ago. It's incredibly moving," she said. "I loved it the first time I heard it."

Gordon orchestrated the piece at Fleming's request specifically for this tour. When she sang the piano version at Lincoln Center, he said, "it was really deep. I love the way she sings it."

It won't be the only contemporary piece on the program. She'll also sing Muse's "Endlessly" and Cohen's "Hallelujah," two rock songs she recorded for her 2010 CD "Dark Hope." The disc also includes songs from Arcade Fire, Death Cab for Cutie and Band of Horses.

"The idea was to try something new," she said. "It was presented to me out of the blue - it wasn't my idea - and I was able to embrace it when I saw how interesting the music was.

"I would love for my music and my music-making to be very broad."

Her own tastes are pretty broad, too. She loves jazz, she said, but her favorite recent release is a blues disc: Tedeschi Trucks Band's "Revelator." She's particularly taken with Susan Tedeschi's voice: "I don't know how she does what she does," she said. "I would probably ruin my voice in two minutes."

Fleming's latest CD, "Poemes," which hits stores this week, is a collection of French music, including a setting of Ravel's "Sheherazade" that she will sing this evening, and some works by Messiaen.

"I love French music, and I love singing in French," she said.

Speaking of Messiaen's work, she said, "There's a lightness to it. Everyone talks about the quality of light in Messiaen's music."

When Fleming leaves San Antonio, she'll be taking symphony music director Sebastian Lang-Lessing with her. He'll serve as conductor for most of the dates on her tour.

"It works out better for me," she said. "The music is all so unique and not standard repertoire. This way, I'm not having to reinvent the wheel in every city. He can rehearse the orchestra more efficiently."

The two share a general manager, but they haven't worked together before.

Lang-Lessing is looking forward to the tour. Just the fact that Fleming's doing it says a lot about her, he said.

"She could say, 'I'll only sing in New York and L.A. and Chicago, and that's it.' She could be satisfied with that," he said. "I think she shows how important all orchestras are in the landscape of the U.S. That's an important message of this tour. A lot of artists don't do that."